CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- A Clarksville dad said he wants to know why the zero tolerance policy isn't kicking in after his fourth-grade son was cut on a school bus.

"(It) feels like our hands are tied," said Adam McWhorter. "The school system doesn't want to do anything about it."

McWhorter said he wants justice served after an incident that started with a pencil sharpener this week on a Clarksville Montgomery-County school bus.

McWhorter said his fourth-grade son was in an argument with a third-grader on Monday when the third-grader grabbed a pencil sharpener, stomped it and used the blade inside to cut his son.

"When he got off the bus, he had a gash on his leg about 3 1/2 inches long, and he had blood all the way down from his knee to his socks," said McWhorter.

He said his son is worried.

"He's a little scared when he goes back to school that he'll get retaliated against," McWhorter said.

He said the school's punishment for the third-grader who hurt his son isn't acceptable.

"You'd think he'd have been expelled from school since there's zero tolerance if they have weapons or anything at school," he said. "They suspended him from school for the rest of the week and kicked him off the bus for the rest of the year. That's it."

But Montgomery County schools officials said they can't confirm what the third-grader's punishment will be; they can only say he has been disciplined.

School officials said the zero tolerance policy applies to middle and high school students. On the elementary level, punishments are more flexible and are examined on a case-by-case basis.

"It wasn't handled right at all. If he had cut an artery, cut a vein, it could've been pretty serious," said McWhorter. "I think the boy should be expelled from school. I think he needs counseling. He needs to know what's right, not just a smack on the wrist."

School officials said the rules regarding the zero tolerance policy are listed on the district's website.

CUNNINGHAM, Tenn. - A student and a bus driver were both suspended after a violent ride home from a Montgomery County Elementary School on Monday.

Fourth grade student Jace McWhorter said he was trying to defend his brother when the bully used the blade of a pencil sharpener to cut a gash in his leg.

"I didn't think he was going to do it but he just cut my leg open," McWhorter said.

McWhorter said he immediately told bus driver Mary Black what had happened. But instead of pulling over, Black handed Jace tissue, continued on with her route, and dropped him off at home as he bled from the wound.

Instead of getting 16 stitches, doctors decided to use butterfly tape to close up the gash.

The student was suspended from school for four days, and kicked off the bus for the rest of the year.

The bus driver was suspended without pay for two days and transferred to another route after school officials reviewed the bus camera video. They accused her of not following protocol.

"The bus driver says that she did not know what to do in that situation so there ought to be more awareness for the bus drivers to know what to do in case another situation comes up," Jace's dad Adam McWhorter said.

Adam McWhorter said more should have been done to punish the student. But school system officials said there's not much more they could do.

According to state law, the zero tolerance policy does not apply to this case because it did not involve a firearm, controlled substance, or assault of a teacher.

School officials said that the mother of the third grader has offered to pay for Jace's medical expenses. She has also apologized for her son's actions.

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

Knightstown, Ind. — When Charles A. Beard school district board member Mark Fort thought someone had been picking on his son on a school bus, he went off on a first-year bus driver in a confrontation caught on videotape.

"I am f… livid right now!" Fort screams at the driver. "My kid came home with G…D… marks all over his f…. neck! My kid didn't say a f…. word! I looked at his f…. neck! I said, 'What the f…. happened?'"

The driver tries to explain to Fort that he didn't see any horseplay on the bus.

"I'll tell you right now it better not f… go on on this bus no more!" Fort shouts. "I don't give a f… about me being on the school board! I'm talking as a f…. parent!"

Superintendent Gary Storie told Fox59 News that a review of the surveillance tape from the bus indicates the two elementary students were involved in minor horseplay but not misbehavior that would have warranted anything stronger than a warning from the driver.

"Whether it was you or f… Gary Storie driving the school bus," Fort warned the driver, "I'm gonna rip somebody's ass!"

Knightstown police were called to calm Fort down. Later the incident was brought to the attention of the school board which issued a strongly worded statement against such outbursts by parents or board members against school employees.

When contacted by Fox59 News, Fort declined to be interviewed on camera. He called the incident, "a dead issue."

"Kids safety comes first," said Fort, "and there was no discipline on that bus that day. I didn't hurt anybody. There were no children on the bus."

Fort admitted that he didn't handle the incident appropriately but he would not apologize to the driver. During the tirade he warned, "If there is any retaliation, there's gonna be trouble! Retaliation from me coming to you or going over to those parents of the f…. kid!"

Superintendent Storie said the bus driver reacted appropriately to the outburst and would not be disciplined. The superintendent sent out a memo Wednesday morning reminding drivers to not allow members of the community to board their buses.

NEW FOR 2010 SCHOOL YEAR!Stopping bullying on the school bus - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

SALISBURY (CBS) – An 11-year-old Salisbury boy has been summonsed on a charge of assault and battery after police say he was bullying children on a school bus.

Authorities say the boy hit a smaller student with a backpack and slapped him leaving a hand impression on the younger boy’s face.

The boy reportedly has a history of bullying, and after this situation Salisbury police school resource officer Mike Alder was asked to assist in the investigation.

The boy has been suspended of all bus privileges indefinitely.

“I’m happy the school took action, but felt really sad this child’s only 11 years old,” said Tamah French, the PTA president. “Kids need to know that here isn’t room for this and that there are consequences.”

French runs programs to teach parents about anti-bullying laws and how they protect students. Her second grader was bullied and she was happy about how the school handled it.

“I spoke with his teacher who dealt with the situation and had the child written up,” said French. “It showed us that he’ll be taken seriously and he will be safe at school.”

The school and the resource officer say they reported the bullying according to the state’s bullying law, which was enacted last year. Under the law schools must have plans on how they handle incidents of bullying, and all incidents must be reported to law enforcement.

“Looking at all the bullying that has been going on you’ve got to do something because the younger kids are seeing what the older kids are doing,” said Joey Heather Capozze, a PTA member.

Her daughter says she has been bullied before and knowing a student could face such serious charges means teachers are taking them seriously.

“If I do speak up I think it would stop happening,” said Capozze’s daughter, Bailey.

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

Stop Violence on the school buses!Stop bullying and other violence - Complete with excellent video! According to the American Public Health Association, the school bus is the second most common place for bullying to occur (the first is on the playground). This Fast Track slide presentation can help stop bullying on the school buses. Includes class handouts. Free to use in self-study, for class training, and for presentation to the school board. Click Here for Link (See Post # 14)

I can also agree that the way things work in today's world have changed compared to 10-15 years ago. Would have to go back at least 50 years to escape the public gross disrespect children, parents and even bureaucrats act out toward educators, including school bus drivers. (In our district school bus drivers are considered educators as well.) Seems appropriate here for any interested to address this issue in more detail:

Much of The Fast Track methods dealing with malbehavior involves 'back to the future' remedies, such as immediate removal from the bus environment is a remedy from back to at least the forties and fifties, is modified these days only in that the abusive child is not thrown off the bus at school or in route but escorted by an adult to the school office or turned over to law enforcement. They are supervised hand-to-hand. Protective, not discipline or punishment, and for this reason and concerning the school bus ‘refusal to transport’ should be kept separate from discipline policies.

It is true that recently the politically correct, special interests, and the money grabbers see the advantage of entering this issue. 'Hate bullying' is on the agenda and all sorts of behaviors are being labeled bullying, along with promoting mediation and conflict resolution programs that do little but make the producers money. Dr. Gary Namie, the nation’s leading expert in bullying asserts not to compromise the already compromised target using these sorts of strategies.

Schools know of only about 10-percent of the bullying that actually goes' on, 90-percent is accomplished in secret. Those in workplace and schoolplace denial alike see no bullying, hear no bullying and claim to say no bullying is happening or is rare under their supervision.

When a school or school bus actually confronts bullying the result is worse for a time, a good indicator that bullying is being addressed successfully. Most bullies like their power and are not willing to give it up. Some of these have parents that bully as well and demand every right for their child while ignoring the rights of their child’s targets.

The effect on the targets can be substantial. Very sad to see a bright, intelligent growing child regress to a fearful one that is so busy surviving on the bus and at school to be putting much time toward his or her studies. On middle school runs I keep a better behaved and prepared student (usually older volunteer student) near the target to help intervene, or might move the target to the back area where the best behaved have the run.

Trained observation and the better behaved kids helped me discover the bullies on our bus. About one-third of the kids on our bus were identified as mild to serious bullies, targets, or both. Bullies and some combination bully/targets are assigned the front area.

The most popular student on the bus is a well established bully, removed a few times and written up. Worst cases too often can not be 'fixed' but can be revealed and contained adequately in the front area of the bus, or removed from the bus.

The best behaved on this school bus have the run and help intervene in bullying, including helped me understand an alternate style - 'Dissing' (disrespecting, teasing, insulting, bashing, rapping insults, awesome talking, smack lame free style dis chirp, etc.).

Dissing, as explained by the best behaved eighth graders is when a student or pocket of students display their power by persistently verbally abusing a target. May be subtle, presented as helpful, such as "You smell, really should take a bath once in a while." More subvert are persistent remarks, such as: "Loser." - "Nobody likes you." - "Why don't you just kill yourself?" and such; and agitating by touching, pulling hair, tossing paper, tripping, bumping in to, taking the targets stuff, making up lies to get the target in to trouble, that sort of thing. These are now off the bus or also contained in the front area of the bus.

When the bus driver achieves a more civil environment for the better behaved on the bus is also when the bullies escalate toward the driver. An unprepared or fearful bus driver does not prevail without the direct support of the best behaved students and adults involved, which evolved to helping me put a stop to bullying on my school bus.

When these malbehaved attempted their routines on me that act soon became their undoing. It was then possible to observe their strategies personally and on video, which also revealed what to look for in the school as well.

We prevailed against every mobbing attempt, every mini-mobbing attempt, and also the individual bullies creative attempts, and including some bullying parent's attempts, by alerting the well behaved riders not to join in but to watch what happens next.

Haven't stopped the bullying, probably never happen, but together with the help of the well-behaved put a stop to much of it on our school bus. Regardless, probably some 50-percent is still missed, some even escape until law enforcement and the courts understand this issue and also help intervene.

Four targets are now doing very well on the bus. Four targets are no longer so afraid or at least as afraid on the bus or at school. Perhaps four targets will not eventually drop out of school, or worse – drop out of life. As each success promotes another success more targets are coming forward.

Also, some kids that stopped riding the bus earlier in the school year are returning to the bus, maneuvering out of reach of the bullies that are now walking to and from school.

You know you’re on the right track when ending pretending that bullying is not a big deal, then commit to study how to intervene, and when you then intervene, for that effort you are then attacked by the bullies – both children and adult bullies.

Bullying, not the politically correct version or the denial version, but real bullying in the workplace and just as much alive in the schoolplace are alike in that it is a persistent act, a systematic campaign of interpersonal destruction on a target, often because the main bully targeting the person can not stand the likeability, the emotional intelligence, confidence and strength of their chosen target. Bullying is often psychological violence that can lead to serious health issues, very much so what is escalating on the Internet anonymously toward children. (jk)

Here are a few videos to cover this issue in the schoolplace and also in the workplace:

July 1, 2011Burlingame PatchFrom the White House to the school house, bullying is a topic that has everyone’s attention. Last March, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a conference at the White House on Bullying Prevention and posted their remarks on this White House YouTube video.

“The goal of this conference,” President Obama said on the video, “is to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up.”

As part of the Obama administration’s education reform efforts, the White House launched a resource website, www.stopbullying.gov, and is encouraging schools to ask students themselves about school safety and how to address bullying.

In March 2011, the National PTA created an initiative titled “Connect for Respect” to encourage PTAs across the country to lead conversations in their school communities about bullying and to develop solutions that will work in their communities.

May be someone covering as a spammer when actually a bully acting out. The "Haha" seems a bit odd. A library of references for instructors and targets is not the sort of thread most would usually post. Although both have posted a response on occasion, more bullies and wan-na-be's tend to post to this thread than do targets. This thread's warning post encourages targets not to post, but that targets go to the relevant reference links for help. (jk)

Movie Trailer: The Bully Project, a year in the life of America's bullying crisis - premiered April 23rd at the Tribeca Film Festival. Click here for video.

Okay you people who are attacking JK just stop. I mean, i try to enjoy the forums and then when there is personal attacks going on back and forth back and forth, i try to stay away. I love the forums but the spammers and all of the personal attacks going on it ruins the expireience for me. I try not to do personal attacks but when people do personal attacks on me i tend to snap back. Ive been attacked so much online and even at work that i cant stand watching it on here or anywhere. Even the kids that ride my bus tend to make fun of me and attack me. But my point is that so many people now love to break down everybodys walls. Just leave JK alone. I know ive said some mean stuff to him and some other people on here, its just the way ive been attacked makes me attack the people who attacked me. My message is just stop bullying JK and everyone else. If you dont like JK's posts then stay away from them and leave him alone. I think that his posts are useful and full of good advice.

... My message is just stop bullying JK and everyone else. If you don’t like JK's posts then stay away from them and leave him alone. I think that his posts are useful and full of good advice.

Excellent intervention attempt. Regardless, bullies have a difficult time just stopping it.

This thread's resources provide all sorts of remedies, some of which are not effective toward the locked-in, the over aggressive, and the bullies that enjoy harming their targets. It is natural that some of these might attack or otherwise abuse stop-bullying programs and promoters of those resources.

Aggressiveness among some adults in these forums are mild compared to what goes on with kids in cyberspace and at school. Laws are coming with a bite that can be very time consuming for a bully and very expensive for a bully's parents.

The downside is that the very aggressive are providing government an entry in to Web regulation that no doubt will open the Web to all sorts of other government regulation.

The 'white horse' of government is only the first horse. What comes next seems most often taxes and fees to support inefficient governments monitoring of the Net, an activity the industry and users could have done themselves most effectively without government involvement.

The Web we know today will be safer in the future, the fees, taxes and penalties much higher. In this case the Internet industry and users alike have opened the door to government invasion by failing to aggressively resolve cyberbullying themselves, to the point there would be no need of government intervention.

Too bad, I guess, for those of us paying additional taxes and fees for what the industry could have stopped from both some in government and other bullies in their tracks. (jk)

On Oct. 12, 2006, the suit alleges, store's then-general manager, Richard Moore threw Ashley Alford to the ground in the store's stock room, lifted her shirt and masturbated over her as he held her down. He was arrested later that day and awaits trial in St. Clair County Circuit Court on a charge related to the accusation. His attorney did not respond to a message left Thursday.

EAST ST. LOUIS • The Aaron's Inc. chain of more than 1,800 stores made a profit of $118 million last year, and a jury here says it owes the vast majority to a former employee of the Fairview Heights branch in a sexual harassment case against her boss.

The woman, whose life struggles became part of the case, is entitled to $95 million in compensation, U.S. District Court jurors decided Wednesday. But a cap on damages in federal sexual harassment cases will reduce that to about $41.6 million.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, Ashley Alford, of Fairview Heights, said the award of $15 million in compensatory damages and $80 million in punitive damages could be a record. "From what we can tell, this is the absolute largest sex harassment verdict in the country for an individual plaintiff," said lawyer David S. Ratner. ...

Back in 2007, many were surprised to learn that 37% of all adult Americans claimed to have been bullied at work. The scientific poll by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) used the definition: repeated mistreatment by one or more employees that takes the form of either verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, humiliation, interference with work or some combination. Bosses were the main perpetrators (in 72% of incidents). Workplace bullying held steady at 35% according to the 2010 WBI survey.

Employers have a dismal record of voluntarily dealing with bullying. Why? Bullying benefits executives. Or people don’t know how to stop it. If the former is true, laws are needed to compel attention. Better to assume knowledge and skill shortcomings.

While waiting for executives to realize the benefits from adopting a comprehensive solution, there is much that can be done by managers and supervisors to tamp down bullying and dilute its destructive impact on employee and organizational health.

Here are three simple action steps for managers that can be done today. ...

With the suicides of two bullied high school students here in Massachusetts, the focus on anti-bullying efforts thus far has been on children.

But a group of advocates have been trying to convince state legislators to pass a bill that would give a legal avenue for victims of workplace bullies.

The bill was the subject of a recent State House hearing and members of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development are currently examining it.

“Bullying is much more than incivility or someone losing his temper. It tends to be targeted, repeated and abusive behavior that causes physical and/or psychological harm,” said David Yamada, a professor at Suffolk University who helped author the bill. “Some of the most destructive workplace bullying is of the covert variety, involving attempts to undermine someone's work performance and destroy her reputation.”

Advocates said that up to 59 percent of employees directly experience workplace bullying.

Gregory Sorozan, who works with Yamada and is also the state coordinator for the Washington-based Workplace Bullying Institute, said the effort has gained momentum and support over the last year. Last year there were 23 supporters signed up compared to more than 400 this year.

Avenues in the workplace, like human resources personnel, don’t usually work to curb bullying, he said.

“Bullying is perfectly legal, therefore there is no reason for them … to put an end to bullying,” Sorozan said. “Human resource officers … work in the service of protecting of the organization.”

Valerie Cade, the author of “Bully Free at Work,” said bullies grow up, but their characteristics don’t.

“For someone who has bullying behavior, it’s addictive, and they have to keep feeding it,” she said.

Currently, 19 other states are considering similar proposals, according to the State House News Service.

I have had many of these happen to me until I finally quit in frustration. I miss my kids so much and miss the job I enjoyed more than any I had ever had. This is also why I have not been on this site for awhile. I missed being here too!

These sorts of bullies have too often been raised spoiled to the core, no fear of consequences for their deviant outrageousness, and full of excuses for their malconduct acted out in our society. These sorts really do think that they have the right to harm even the elderly. Would hardly ever think it good to remove a child from a child's parent, but this one seems may demand that dreadful action.

Arizona man held in attack on school bus driver

Aug. 18, 2011 SPECIAL TO THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

An angry father stormed his daughter's school bus Tuesday and pummeled its driver in northwest Arizona, authorities said.

The 73-year-old driver was repeatedly punched in the head and suffered blurred and double vision after the 7:30 a.m. assault in Fort Mohave, according to the Mohave County sheriff's office. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Spokeswoman Trish Carter said 42-year-old Randolph Evans was upset that his 11-year-old daughter had been disciplined on the bus the previous day. She said Evans cursed the driver as his daughter boarded at the school bus stop Tuesday.

Carter said the operator tried to drive off to protect the children, but Evans trotted along and forced his way through the accordion-style doors. She said that the driver was able to bring the bus to a stop during the assault and that Evans admitted striking the driver when deputies arrived.

The violence occurred in front of the suspect's daughter and 13 other schoolchildren, none of whom was harmed, she said.

Evans was booked into jail on a count of aggravated assault upon a school employee and 14 counts of endangerment.

"The bullying trend has received the attention as high up as the White House, and recently has become a primary focus with professionals who monitor the place where many incidents occur — the school bus."

By JENNIFER CARBONI

August 20, 2011Daily Local News

In January, police charged three Downingtown Middle School students with harassment after they allegedly attacked a 13-year-old boy on a school bus and recorded the act using a video cell phone application.

The incident happened after school while the bus driver was taking students home near the intersection of Shadyside and Marshallton Thorndale roads in West Bradford.

According to police, one boy and two girls, all 13, assaulted and harassed another 13-year-old boy by striking and shoving him. During the incident, one of the accused students reportedly recorded the assault. The video was handed over to police by one of those involved, authorities said.

Modern bullying, it is clear, has come to Chester County and on that most innocent symbol of youth — the school bus.

In recent years, bullying has received national attention due to the spread of cyberbullying — repeated harassment by juveniles through digital media — as well as high-profile child suicides believed to be connected to bullying, and a growing trend of students posting assaults on the Internet. The bullying trend has received the attention as high up as the White House, and recently has become a primary focus with professionals who monitor the place where many incidents occur — the school bus.

Michael Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, said school bus bullying is becoming more of a challenge for drivers.

“We’ve seen over time an increase in drivers having to spend more time focusing on discipline on the school bus than they have in the past,” Martin said.

The Downingtown incident highlights the challenges for school bus drivers who are not only responsible for navigating Chester County roads safely, but are also tasked with keeping an eye on up to roughly 70 students at a time.

“That job becomes much more difficult if students are not following the rules of student behavior,” Martin said.

The driver is generally the only potential adult witness available during a school bus incident and is generally the only adult — in terms of immediacy — to prevent bullying, stop existing bullying from escalating, or end physical bullying once it starts on a school bus. ...

Freedom from Workplace Bullies Week, sponsored by the Workplace Bullying Institute, is a chance to break through the shame and silence surrounding bullying. It is a week to be daring and bold. Here are different ways to celebrate Freedom Week: Click here for ideas.

New Blog: Welcome to my blog, 'The School Bus.' My hope is that what you read in my articles, and from invited contributors, and also the resulting participants comments is helpful to you in the effort to help keep kids safe. Click here for story.

The father wanted to view the video for himelf, but the school denied his request to see the footage because school bus surveillance video is considered a federal education record. Schools aren't required to release it. But right after the story aired, the school called Williams and gave him access to the video.

Oct 3 2011WTKR NEWS 3

Sixth-grader James Williams says a bully's fist left his nose broken and bloody on a Currituck County school bus last week.

The 11-year-old told NewsChannel 3 that weeks of taunting from a 9th grade boy on the bus came to a head last Monday when James tried to defend himself.

"He came over and hit me in the face and blood was all over the seat it was bad," said James.

New Blog: Welcome to my blog, 'The School Bus.' My hope is that what you read in my articles, and from invited contributors, and also the resulting participants comments is helpful to you in the effort to help keep kids safe. Click here for story.

I have watched with a heavy heart these last few years as one child after another has committed suicide because he or she was bullied.

I know that pain. I, too, was bullied as a child. And I, too, considered taking my life. I was 8 years old.

It happened one night on a trip to the local skating rink. I had a pounding headache, but, still, I wanted to go. After all, a trip to the skating rink was a rare treat. So I grabbed a bottle of aspirin, put it in my pocket and jumped into the car.

Inside the rink, the mass of skaters propelled themselves with synchronized lunges, dipping and swaying to the rhythm of disco tracks blaring from giant speakers. They lapped the rink in unison, like a dog chasing its tail and with the same mesmerizing delirium — laughing and dancing. Lovers held hands. Learners held on.

After a few rounds, I left the skating area to take some aspirin, and there, from the railing looking out onto the scene, all the world went quiet — the only remaining sound was the thump of my heartbeat now felt in my temples.

I was having fun, but, even in the happiest of times, sorrow lurked just below the surface. A combination of traumas I had endured in my young life, not the least of which was a period of rather relentless teasing and bullying from all directions — classmates as well as extended family members — was eating me hollow. As a thousand flecks of light raced each other around the walls, I felt my spirit begin to cleave from my body. I seemed now to be watching the scene from beyond the pale of my own humanity, and, in this place, the weariness of pushing back against a wall of sadness melted away. For a moment, I was free.

And that was the thing. I felt free only when I could separate myself from myself — when I could imagine that I was apart from my life and body. There, in the ephemeral nothingness, in the quiet space of the mind, I found peace.

I liked it there. I didn’t want to return to the world. Life was too hard and treacherous. I was too weak and vulnerable. I couldn’t live in sorrow forever. So, in that instance, with no forethought, I decided that that night would be my last. No note. No nothing.

I had never thought of suicide before and had never remembered ever speaking the word, but, in that moment, the idea fell on me so completely and so agreeably that it was as if I had planned it.

I dug the bottle of aspirin from my pocket. I was going to take them all. I had no idea if they would kill me, but I hoped that they would. Then the questions came. Would it hurt? How long would it take? Would my mother be sad? Would I go to hell for committing suicide? Heavy questions piling up like boots at the bottom of a dark closet.

Before I could form answers, one of my mother’s songs came to save me.

It was one of the songs she sang when we were alone together in the car, the songs that helped me drift off to sleep. She had often said that she wished that she were able to sing and was very disappointed when she realized that she lacked the gift. So she rarely sang.

But there in the car, out of earshot of everyone save me, she sang. She sang about runaround men and hold-tight women, about sticky-sweet love and salty-dry longing, about rest stored up in the next life and the weight pressing down on this one — songs like the gospel standard “This Little Light of Mine,” Mel & Tim’s soulful classic “Starting All Over Again,” and Betty Wright’s rhythm-and-blues hit “Clean Up Woman.”

They were the kinds of songs that dug down until they hit something raw. They set the story of her life to a melody, and she sang them from an honest place with little regard for talent or judgment. With these songs she tapped into a more tender part of herself, one we rarely saw, one where she didn’t have to be stoic and phlegmatic, where she could release the tension that drew back her shoulders and just be beautifully human — Freddie Mae in the whole.

That, to me, was the gift.

And so there it was, not summoned and without warning, pushing its way through the crowd of questions, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” one of my mother’s songs sang hard and true, out of her heart and into a steering wheel, coming to save me.

Precious Lord, take my handLead me on, let me standI am tired, I am weak, I am wornThrough the storm, through the nightLead me on to the lightTake my hand precious Lord, lead me home

I didn’t know why it was in my head, but I took it as a sign that God would somehow make a way for me to survive, that I had to be brave and patient, that this was not to be my last night.

So I swallowed two aspirin and flung myself back out onto the hardwood to the life-affirming sounds of Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Shining Star.”

A couple of years ago, when two 11-year-old boys killed themselves after enduring years of homophobic taunting, I wrote on my blog:

“Children can’t see their budding lives through the long lens of wisdom — the wisdom that benefits from years passed, hurdles overcome, strength summoned, resilience realized, selves discovered and accepted, hearts broken but mended and love experienced in the fullest, truest majesty that the word deserves. For them, the weight of ridicule and ostracism can feel crushing and without the possibility of reprieve. And, in that dark and lonely place, desperate and confused, they can make horrible decisions that can’t be undone.”

I wrote that because I knew it — personally. Bullying isn’t just a harmless game. It can be a deadly one, and we need to be reminded of that constantly. You never know how your words are affecting another person. Sometimes they don’t tell. I never told.

Like many children, I suffered in silence. I never even told my mother, and I am only here to share my gift with you because she coaxed me to sleep with a gift she didn’t believe she had.

An assault on a school bus in Pitt County was caught on cellphone video and the girls involved say bullying led to punches being thrown.

By Dave Jordan

Nov 17 2011

An assault on a school bus in Pitt County was caught on cellphone video and the girls involved say bullying led to punches being thrown.

Twelve-year-old Georgia Hayes is a 7th grader at A.G. Cox Middle School in Pitt County and says she suffered a concussion in the attack. She says she's been bullied for months, but she can't believe she was actually attacked.

The assault was recorded by another student on the bus Wednesday. In the video you can see students walking by Hayes and getting off the bus. Then another 7th grade girl starts punching Hayes repeatedly.

Hayes' mom tells us she had just talked to a school counselor the day before to discuss girls bullying her daughter. Hayes says she hopes others see this video and will stop the bullying.

The other girl involved did talk with us as well but didn't want to go on camera. She said she had felt threatened and that's why she assaulted Hayes.

The school says the student who started the attack has been disciplined, but they won't say what that was.

The school system also says it continues to investigate and any other students involved will be disciplined.

News video from another station concerning same fight. Not too bad an intervention. Report didn't mention if all bus lights were flashing and door open so other students can exit front, rear and side doors, and wait together in a safe place off that bus until directed by police to reboard. Not reported if call to 911 resulted in fighters immediate removal from bus by police. Policy must be specific. Where not so, then intervening, especially getting between fighters, is very risky, and the driver is responsible for any injuries to self. Ought not to be the case but 'EP' Employers Comp' will abandon a worker's injuries over any technicality, even when not preventable. My lawyer was a great asset that helped put a stop to worker injury abuse. (jk)

New Blog - The School Bus: A true friend was with me for over a decade and half after suing some parents that attacked my character and damaged my relationship with my employer. No working video camera on the school bus?.

Gary Namie (Ph.D., Social Psychology) and Ruth Namie (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology) started the U.S. workplace bullying movement in mid-1997 after Ruth’s personal experience at the hands of a tyrannical woman supervisor in a psychiatry clinic.

The Drs. Namie began the first and only U.S. research, education, advocacy and consulting organization — the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI, workplacebullying.org) now in Bellingham, Washington. Their current books areThe Bullying-Free Workplace (2011, Wiley) for employers and The Bully At Work (2009, Sourcebooks) for bullied individuals. WBI regularly conducts research, including the scientific 2010 & 2007 U.S. Workplace Bullying Surveys and online large sample studies. As the go-to experts, WBI has been featured on U.S. and Canadian network and local TV, national and local newspapers, business magazines and radio, with nearly 1,000 interviews.

Two important additional types of work the Namies undertake are (1) to direct the national campaign to enact the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill in states (healthyworkplacebill.org), and (2) The Work Doctor® (workdoctor.com) the Namies’ firm that originated the field of workplace bullying consulting for employers in 1998. Gary was the expert witness in the nation’s first ”bullying trial” in Indiana with the verdict upheld by the state Supreme Court. ...

When a bus monitor/assistant is assigned to a school bus and training proceeds to mimic the bus driver’s previous student management practices, which did not work to secure the bus environment, obviously these sort of redundant practices from the additional help can bring the same results.

The actual issue involved can be the same from bus to bus – the uncivil have taken charge of the bus environment.Click Here for full story